Prompt

The six battlegroups and the Dark Brotherhood have been dispatched to investigate 14 systems in the direction the Ishtari left when they withdrew from Tusorix.

With much learned from the inhabitants of their first system, the ISDII Hammer and its escorts arrive at their second assigned system. Scanners show no signs of life on any of the worlds in the system, so the battlegroup enters orbit of the most hospitable planet and sends down shuttles and fighters to investigate. They discover a series of what look like cities on the surface, but still don’t see any inhabitants. A large spaceport is located in what might have been a capital, which is chosen as a landing site. Teams are dispatched to find out what happened to the civilization that was clearly here, with the buildings and other structures mostly intact and seeming as if they’d been lived in recently. As they fan out across the city, they discover that they’re not alone after all. Striking from numerous hiding places, the Ishtari attack!

After investigating and reaching some conclusions about the lost Ishtari colony, the ISDII Warrior and its escorts moved on to their second system. They arrive in the middle of a pitched battle between the Ishtari and unknown forces, presumably ships from the three populated worlds nearby. The battle is chaotic, with no clear battle lines and ships of all kinds engaged in close-range combat. The only way forward is through, so the Warrior Battlegroup joins the fray.

Having either routed the Ishtari at their first system, waited until the battle was over, or jumped to their second system and found no signs of the Ishtari there, the ISDII Challenge and its escorts now have an opportunity to talk to the locals without interference. The inhabitants here have had numerous encounters with the Ishtari but have never successfully repelled them on their own, having adapted to the raids by leaving significant food storage units in clearings on the surface so that the Ishtari take what they want and leave without much bloodshed. The locals seem anxious to tell their story and hear about the Challenge Battlegroup’s previous encounters with the Ishtari.

Any officers assigned to Avenger Squadron that aren’t also part of one of the battlegroups remained at Tusorix with the SSD Avenger and its escorts… unless they chose to tag along with one of the battlegroups. If so, they may pick from any of the prompts above.

Submissions

• Word count minimum is 1000, max is 4000
• Limit of one submission per pilot
• Please email submissions to HA Plif at tccom@emperorshammer.org

Scoring Rubric

See https://tc.emperorshammer.org/competitions.php?id=3457.

• Iron Stars with Ribbons: Gold, Silver x2, Bronze x3, Copper x4 (top ten)
• Also RtF points: 300, 270, 240, 210, 180, 150, 120, 90, 60, 30 (top ten)
  • Participation: 100 points
  • Submissions that place also earn participation points